Star Wars: Galactic Adventure
by theepicME
Summary: James comes home from school to find his parents missing, before long he's swept in a journey across the galaxy, seeking refuge from the Empire, what will he come across in his journey to find a home and safety? Mixes Canon and Legends material.
1. Chapter 1: Homeland Bombing

_Note from the author, skip this if you wish to get straight to the story:_

 _It's been a long time since I've written something like this, about 3 years, so I am kinda glad to be back. Either way, please enjoy this story that I've written for the grand total of probably 5 people who will read this._

 _I'd also like it to be known that this is a rehash of a previous story I had written, it was the last one I wrote prior to leaving this community, and one I deleted along with several other stories I wrote. I haven't watched Star Wars: Rebels much, bits and pieces of a couple of episodes, and many of the concepts this story has were written prior to the existence of Rebels, so if this sounds a bit like Rebels, it's probably because I had a similar concept before Disney had taken the opportunity to monetize that._

 _Keep in mind that both legends material and canon will be mixed, where information conflicts_

 _Please Review_

 **I'm not sure if it's still common practice, but I'm just going to let people know: I don't own the universe that this story is based on. If you own this property, and can be verified as such, and decide that for whatever reason you want to stifle the creativity of others, you may request me to take it down.**

James came home right after school, living no more than 10 minutes away, he was always home quickly, allowing him to make the most of his free-time. He immediately went inside, pouring himself a glass of water before noticing something odd.

 _Where are mother and father?_ He thought to himself, it wasn't a thought that often crossed his mind, they were often home at least an hour before he was, ready to greet him at the door, their jobs as planetary investment advisors meant that they had relatively flexible working hours. They had some odd habits, but not disappearing without warning.

"Mother! Father!" He called, expecting a response from at least one of his two parents.

Yet there seemed to be no response, his parents were either gone or asleep, and he doubted that they were asleep. He walked into their room to discover that they weren't there either.

Then he had caught his reflection in the mirror, he stared for a second, noticing he had ash all over his face. On his home-planet of Fondor, much of the planet was completely industrialized, spewing ash into its atmosphere, what precious tracts of land that weren't industrial plants housed the many cities that covered the planet. Wiping the ash off, James took a look at himself. He hadn't changed much since he turned 16, remaining a 5'10" olive skinned boy. Losing his interest in his reflection, he snapped his attention to the current issue of his missing parents.

He pulled the commlink out of his pocket, it wasn't a standard one, but rather an old Clone-Wars salvaged device, it couldn't access the holo-net, but it could communicate with his parents' own commlinks. He tried to call twice, to no avail.

 _Where are they?_ He wondered _They must be busy at work, I wonder what Mark and Dani are doing_

He left his house and walked two doors down to Mark's home.

Mark, as usual, was sitting on his front porch. He often spent his time there, chatting with friends, or more likely the local girls that passed by his house on their way home.

"Hey Mark, what's up?" James asked as he approached Mark.

"Nothing much, just chilling out right here." Mark nonchalantly replied.

"Dude, you're always up here, what's so special about this front porch?" James was just looking to take his mind off the pressing issue of the location of his parents.

"James, I've told you before. I want you to look over there" Mark said, pointing and directing James' gaze to a large stack of apartments in the distance. "All of them, they don't have a front or back porch, a street to hang out on, anything of the sort. The least I can do for them is make the most of what I have that they don't."

"Fair enough, I see your point. By the way, where's D-"James was interrupted by a large boom in the distance, spinning on the spot to the source of the noise.

Over the house roofs, about three miles away, a large amount of smoke was billowing from an unknown source.

"What the he-" Mark was interrupted by a female voice.

"Guys! You might want to come in and see this!" It was a teenage Mandalorian girl, clad in only a bathrobe, shocking James.

"Dani? What's going on?" Mark said, completely unfazed by the girl standing in front of him.

"Come inside and look, you too James!" Dani was clearly shaken by whatever was going on.

James and Mark looked at each-other before bolting in, but right as they reached the door, Mark looked at James.

"Before you ask, her shower was broken and she needed to use someone's shower." Mark walked into the house, and James just nodded and followed.

Inside, Dani pointed to the holo-projector that served as Mark's Television, currently displaying a breaking-news alert.

"We currently have no suspects in the bombing of the Imperial garrison, we have confirmed around 300 Imperial Stormtroopers, as well as over 1,000 cadets, were taking occupancy inside the garrison, and around 2 million Credits worth of weaponry were stored inside the garrison's armory at the time of the explosion. At the moment we can only hope that these terrorists are caught and brought to justice for their flippant assault on our government."

"Holy heck, that's where Dad had been working these past few weeks, installing defenses!" Mark cried out, reaching for his holo-communicator and attempting to get in contact with his father.

James walked over to Dani, who was visibly shaken.

"What's the matter Dani? Was there anybody you know at the garrison?" James asked, concerned about the well being of one of his best friends.

"A couple of my friends are in training to be soldiers for the Imperial Army, I tried calling them a minute ago before the news came on to see if they knew what was going on, I can only hope they're alright."

"I'm sure they're fine, they were most likely out on the training grounds, it only looks like the main garrison complex was hit from the images on the news" James said, trying to comfort his friend, rubbing her back as he did so.

A loud beep played from the holo-projector, snapping all gazes back to the screen as a new broadcast came on.

"A set of suspects have been caught and arrested in the recent bombing of the Imperial garrison, while no names have been given as to the names of the perpetrators, we have images of all 5 perpetrators who have been arrested leaving the scene of this terrible incident."

On the screen displayed 5 familiar faces, all three teens were shocked that they recognized them in an instant. The arrested suspects were their parents.


	2. Chapter 2: On The Run Part 1

_Obligatory Author's Note: I did not realize how bland the title of this story is until a day later, so please forgive the very generic and undescriptive title of the story, I will be looking for a better one as the story continues, as well as probably updating the description to create something of a better way to entice you guys to read._

 _Otherwise please continue to read and review this story of mine, I'm having a lot of fun creating it and weighing plot decisions back and forth as I write._

The three youths stared at the screen, mouths agape as pictures of each of their parents flashed across the screen, James's mother and father, Dani's mother and father, and Mark's father.

"They can't be right!" Mark cried out, clearly in denial. At first he saw himself in the picture, before realizing that the suspect in question was his own father.

"This has to be a joke, there's no way they'd do something so terrible to the government!" Dani said, trying to rationalize what she'd just been told.

James stayed silent, he didn't know what to do, their parents had just committed a massive crime against the government, and he was sure they would be targets. Whether they'd be questioned and release, or extensively tortured for any sort of information was anyone's guess, but he would rather not find out. Many who come into Imperial custody for questioning are never seen again.

"Guys, I think it's best that we try and leave, I don't think it's safe for us here any longer." James said, Imperial soldiers were likely coming to arrest them as they spoke.

"I don't like this… where are we going to run anyway?" Dani asked

"Uncle Dexter, he's probably going to be on the run as well, he's friends with all of our parents! Let's go to him, he'll know what to do!" Mark created a plan of action.

"Alright, let's prepare to get moving, Stormtroopers are probably going to be banging on our doors any second now. Mark, gather supplies, Dani, get dressed and get your stun-gloves, I'm going to keep watch outside." James took watch at the front windows, enemies were liable to be arriving any second.

Mark ran into the kitchen with a bag, taking canned foods and drink, anything that was non-perishable, as well as grabbing a butcher's knife and a serrated one. After he got done in the kitchen he began packing any clothes he could find, him and James wore similar sizes, but unfortunately there was nothing that fit Dani, but that was an issue that could be resolved later.

Dani ran in and quickly put on her clothes, taking the shock gloves out of her bag, they resembled something similar to a boxing glove, except shaped much more to the hand, and with an electrical taser of sorts attached; he used them for her gym class, in which she practiced close combat, as well as outside of school, where she made them her personal weapons in combat.

James, meanwhile, watched intently outside for any sign of Imperial troops arriving to arrest them. His gaze directed to two Scout-Troopers on Imperial speeder bikes stopping at his house and going up to the door.

"It's about time to get moving, they're at my house now!" James yelled out to the other two, he stared at the two Scouts knock on the door. After receiving no answer for two minutes, one kicked open the door and pulled out his gun, motioning for the other soldier to help him sweep the house for hostiles, they both went inside.

"I'm done!" Mark called, carrying a duffel bag overstuffed with supplies.

"Same." Dani called, walking out wearing the tank top and capris she came with originally. She was putting on her gloves.

"Alright, they're sweeping my house now, if we make it to the street leading to the spaceport fast enough, we should be able to blend in with any crowds walking by." James was making his plan on the fly. "Let's get moving guys, we don't want to be caught."

They began moving out, they exited the house, keeping a quick pace down the sidewalk until they reached the spaceport. Walking in, they made their way to the bay with an incredibly old Dynamic-Class Freighter, _The Reaper_.

"Dexter!" James called out, before noticing that there were two Speeder Bikes parked in front of it, as if Stormtroopers had already made it to him first.

The trio heard a commotion inside, all three ran in to discover a dark-haired man in a checkered vest fighting two stormtroopers in hand-to-hand combat, the soldier's guns laying on the ground.

"Stop that!" Dani yelled, running into the fray. She threw a punch that caught the helmet of one Stormtrooper, the soldier was knocked off balance, but he turned to fight, throwing a punch of his own. Dani caught that punch, though, countering by swinging him into a nearby wall, then kicking him in the chest in hopes of knocking him out for good. He didn't get up.

Meanwhile, the man in the vest got the upper-hand of his own battle with the other Stormtrooper, at first fighting alone, blocking punches thrown by the enemy, then James and Mark joined in, the combined trio made short work of the Stormtrooper, pinning him to the floor and knocking him out. After it was confirmed there were no other soldiers aboard the ship, the group began to talk.

"Thanks for the help out there kids, I'm glad you guys made it to me." The man said, clearly impressed by their combat abilities, especially the ones belonging to Dani, who easily took down a Stormtrooper on her own without any issues.

"No problem Dexter, do you have any idea what's going on and why our parents are being accused of a terrorist act?" Mark asked, he wanted to know the truth on the issue, and trusted Dexter to give him a good answer.

"I'd love to answer all of that right now, but currently our first priority is to get into orbit, when we do I'll tell you everything I know, and a few things that I need to tell you." Dexter replied, preparing his ship to take off. "Get the bodies off as well, but keep the guns, we need something to protect ourselves."

It took around five minutes to get everything set up, the unconscious soldiers off the ship, and the clearance to leave Fondor's atmosphere, which surprisingly hadn't been locked down after the attack.

 _The Reaper_ took off, flying off the planet and into the empty space around the planet, unguarded as of currently, but given a few hours, it was liable to be filled with Imperial Star Destroyers, deploying thousands of soldiers to investigate the incident. That was the beauty of the Empire, it had limitless resources to do whatever it wished with it's units, every single one was expendable as they had a replacement ready nearly immediately. Inside, the young teens began to question Dexter.

"So, why is all of this happening, where are our parents, why are they being accused of terrorist acts?" James lead off the questioning of the man of whom they all knew.

"Alright, first off, all of your parents should be okay, but that might not be anywhere near a good thing. As much as you hate to believe it, your parents are all terrorists against the Empire. They had their reasons." Dexter began to explain the situation at hand "The Empire is not the benevolent leader you originally thought they were… actually, considering you ran to me instead of entering custody, you obviously don't trust the Empire any more than I do."

The entire group gave each-other a solemn look

"We did what we had to do to stay alive, who knows what they would have done with us had we stayed at our houses" Mark explained their motives for coming to Dexter.

"No need to say anything, I would have done the same. Everything is confusing for me, and must be doubly so for you kids, I'm assuming none of your parents mentioned this to you?" Dexter inquired

"Dad said nothing, he went to work like normal, today was just like any other day for him…" Mark replied

"Mother and Father didn't mention anything too, although they both hugged and kissed me goodbye before leaving, which I guess was their way of giving a final goodbye." Dani said.

"Neither of mine said much either, although they did give me this cube a week ago, told me it was a puzzle to solve, do you think this has anything to do with what happened?" James reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a glowing blue cube, indeed a mystery to the other two teens, yet Dexter reacted with a shocked look, giving an audible gasp before snatching the cube out of his hands.

"There's no way in… they just gave this to you! What were they thinking?" Dexter was in utter shock.

"What is it? Why are you in such shock by such a simple cube?" Dani asked, getting slightly annoyed that this man was in total shock over a glowing cube.

"None of you understand, do you? This is a device I thought that they lost ages ago." Dexter was taken out of his shock and instead went into an almost religious fervor.

"What is it, who is they, what are you on about?" James was being patient, but he was still immensely curious over what this puzzle was. "It doesn't react to physical touch, so I have no idea how to solve it."

"This here, is a Holocron, a storage device from the days of the Republic, it was used by the Jedi to store any number of information. The reason you couldn't solve it is because it only opens through the force. To be honest, I have no idea what they stored in this, they used to have several of these, storing data on Imperial information, among other things. What sucks is they had to get rid of many of them to throw the Empire off their trail, I have no idea where they went but I have a feeling many are in the hands of the Empire now."

"Wait, why would they have old Jedi artifacts? They betrayed the Republic during the war, all their stuff was to be destroyed!" Mark was confused.

"While I have my own reservations on the Jedi cause, much of what you've been instructed on the subject of the Jedi is highly misleading. The Jedi were blindsided in the Clone Wars by the Emperor, he issued an order to have them executed when they discovered he was a Sith lord. He became the Emperor, and the rest is that of history, written by the victors."

"That has to be a conspiracy theory. How do you know all of this?" James asked, skeptical of all the information he had just been told.

"I know none of you know this, and this might be a great burden on your hearts if none of you believe what I had just told you, but your parents all served for the Republic during the Clone Wars." Dexter dodged the initial question seemingly, instead shocking them all with information that none of them ever even suspected.

He continued, "James and Dani, your parents were all Jedi Knights in the Order, fighting to preserve peace, and when war came, the Republic itself. As for you Mark, you're a special case, you're biologically related to your Father, yes but as a Brother. You see, your Father was a Clone Commando, and when the war began coming to a close, the Republic began sending his squad on riskier and riskier missions, attempting to end the war as soon as possible, even at the cost of his squads' life if necessary. He grew to be good friends with Dani's parents, as well as James's, and when he got his chance, escaped with an infant you in tow. I don't think you know this, but you're a Clone just like him, only you came with the glitch of lacking accelerated aging, meaning you were an infant when many of your brothers were already learning to use a gun."

"There is no way that any of this is true… is it?" Mark questioned aloud.

"So… if all of this is true as you say, you're telling me that Dani and I are force sensitive?" James asked, attempting to absorb all the information he had just been given.

"While I cannot be certain, as normally the Jedi aren't allowed to form attachments, and that generally rules out having children, especially with each-other. It is anyone's guess as to whether or not you are force sensitive. If the force can manifest itself in anyone indiscriminately, then one, both, or none of you can have it, or if it's hereditary, then both of you will have the capacity to use it, it's just a matter of unlocking it, and whether you're stronger in it or not because of your parents."

"Seriously, how do you know all this, you're like some type of encyclopedia." Dani asked.

"Much of this came from my daily conversations with all of your parents, I became good friends with them a while back, when they first moved out here as a group. It took them a long time before they told me their past, but when they did I kept silent about it for years, until today that is, telling you all."

"Alright, I think I believe you, it makes sense to me, at least on why I look so similar to my father." Mark said.

"I don't have much else to go off of, and if this all is true, then whatever is in that Holocron I gave you will match what you said most likely, give it back so I can try to unlock it." James wanted the cube back, holding out his hand.

"If only because you're one of maybe two chances to unlock this, I'm giving it to you to solve, at least tell me what it says when you finish solving it. Until then, I think it's best that you kids get some rest, we're going to have a long journey ahead of us once we figure out what to do next." Dexter replied "The quarters are that way, females and males are the same thing but on different sides, pick one and go with it, I'll sleep in here for now."

"Alright, come on guys" Mark said, walking himself to the crew quarters and laying down his sack. He jumped on the top bunk and claimed it as his own.

James clambered onto the bottom bunk, working on figuring out the best route to go about solving his Holocron.

"James, what do you think about this whole situation? Everything just went completely wrong all at once, and I honestly don't know what to believe anymore…" Mark asked James, thoroughly concerned.

"All I know at this point is that Dexter has given us no reason to not believe him, let's just figure out what we're going to do next, and when we reach a point of safety, stay there for as long as possible." James replied.

"Either way, let's just get rest and figure out what to do later, goodnight my friend." Mark began to go to sleep.

"Goodnight" James replied. He planned to spend what time they had to sleep working on solving the Holocron with no working knowledge of the force, nor any idea how to unlock a Holocron to begin with.

 _This was rather wordy for my taste, but I feel like it was better not to leave the story on a cliffhanger on every chapter released, so I rather made it to a neat conclusion to this next section. Stay tuned to this story next week, when I hope to release this next chapter after completing roughly an entire quarters classwork in around 1 entire weekend. Anyway, enough of my griping, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, and are enjoying the story in general, and I'll see you all next week._


	3. Chapter 3: On The Run Part 2

_So, recent development: I'm officially a single mingle and ready to pringle… wait a second. Heartbreak wasn't as bad as I expected, anyways, with the addition of Christmas Break and my free time tripled because of the fact I'm a pringle single means I will have some extra time to write a few chapters for this story, which is getting quite a few more views than expected, even without any follows or favorites or reviews. I had low expectations for this fic to reach anybody, being that it's like a message in a bottle in an ocean filled with messages in bottles, but I've been quite inspired to continue, so with that out of the way, we continue to the next chapter of this story._

 _Also, the freighter that the group is traveling in is a Dynamic-Class freighter, the same kind as the Ebon Hawk from The Old Republic, I chose it because it already had a defined layout and because the original story had basically 5 people on a capital ship like it can totally automate itself just fine, that didn't make sense and I didn't just want to handwave it so here we are._

 _Merry Christmas by the way! I originally expected this to go out quite a while ago, as in almost a week ago but I got distracted, so this is hopefully going out either December 26_ _th_ _or 27_ _th_ _but enough of me leaving authors notes every time I come back to edit this, here is the story._

Mark awoke with a jump, he was startled to hear a very load groan come up from the bunk above him. Confused as to what it was that made the sound, he slowly got up without making a sound, he stepped silently out of bed, slowly rising towards the top he poked his head up to where James was supposed to be sleeping. When his eyes peered over the side of the bed, he saw James, sitting cross legged with his face in his hands, and the holocron he had sitting in front of him.

"James, what are you doing?" Mark asked, he still hadn't understood how holocrons worked, none of them truly did.

"This thing, I don't know how it works. I tried feeling around it, but there's no way to unlock it by hand, so it has to be unlocked through the force, but I have no idea how to channel it so I can't unlock it using that either." James said, exasperated.

"How long have you been working on that thing anyways, I heard you feeling around it right before I passed out." Mark questioned "Please tell me you haven't been working on that thing the entire time everyone else has been resting?"

"I want to know what we were left, if there's information relating to a massive amount of money we've been left, maybe blackmail for an Imperial official to give us safe haven, or anything to keep us safe, I want to have it as soon as possible, the quicker we find safety, the better."

"James, we don't know if anywhere is safe, the Empire controls most of the Galaxy, they'll find us no matter where we go."

"There might be people like our parents, maybe some Jedi that survived the war and fled to places the Empire would never look, or even people our parents worked with, there's no way they could have done it alone."

"You're really optimistic about our chances, for now let's see if Dexter is awake, if he is maybe he'll know where to go next." Mark suggested.

"Fair enough, let's go see if him and Dani are awake" James replied, and they made their way towards the cockpit of the freighter.

Passing through the hologram meeting-room of sorts, they moved up and found Dani and Dexter talking.

"Hey guys, glad you all are finally awake." Dani said, smiling at them.

"I was the only one asleep, he spent the time we spent sleeping working on the holocron" Mark replied, before walking over and taking a look at the computer containing a galactic map. "So, where is our next destination?"

"That we don't know yet, I would say that we go to an area around here with low Imperial dominance and lay low, but I'd imagine that a group of fugitives escaping Imperial grasp would put a damper on that plan, they likely have checkpoints set up at any and all major spaceports." Dexter explained, "I'd say we could possibly go to an area in Hutt controlled space, but that is a good distance away, and we'd have to stop somewhere to get fuel cells, which is difficult when most spaceports will likely have an Imperial garrison."

"Do you have any friends we can meet with, we need supplies too. I didn't have time to get any clothes so all I have is this and my gloves. Besides, we need food and guns to defend ourselves" Dani asked.

"I have a few friends back on Fondor, but that's a bad idea to go back." Dexter replied, before walking over and sliding Mark out from in front of the galactic map, observing it to decide the best course of action. "I know some people hiding out on Devaron, we could most likely contact them and see if they can provide us safe haven for some time, let me see if I can get contact with them"

Dexter walked out of the room, going to the holo-projector room.

"So we're going to Devaron?" Mark asked.

"Most likely, I'm not entirely sure, it all depends on him getting in contact with those on Devaron." Dani said, she noticed James was walking out of the cockpit, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if he's came in contact yet with the guys on Devaron" James replied.

"He just went in there, I highly doubt he's already made contact" Dani stated.

"I _also_ want to hear what they have to say when he does make contact. You guys go and find something to do, maybe practice fighting, we're going to probably end up in a lot more fights in the coming days." James walked out of the cockpit, leaving Mark and Dani.

"That was kinda rude." Mark said. "He got real sassy there for a second."

"He's under a lot of stress, I don't know why but that's how he works it out, being sassy. I'm just worried he's gonna be like that for a long time." Dani explained, "Maybe we should do a practice fight after all, I am kind of itching to get some practice."

"No weapons, just pure hand-to-hand combat?" Mark inquired on the rules.

"Yep, I love my gloves but they aren't fair to use in a practice fight, besides, the way they fit means that they just enhance my normal combat, rather than requiring their own fighting style." Dani started exiting the cockpit, "Lets train in the storage bay, Dexter only had a few crates when I poked in there before bed."

"Wait," Mark asked, following her, "You did what?"

"Well, I figured I should check out what's around here, and I looked in the storage manifest, which reported nothing was being carried inside there, then I searched the storage bay itself, then the engine room and the medical center, I didn't find anything bad though and I just went to bed."

"What in particular were you looking for that could be considered 'bad'?"

"Spice, perhaps illegal animals stored in cages, I don't want us being caught just because he has illegal stuff stored in his ship."

"Dexter is just as invested in surviving as us three, I'm positive that he wont be just carrying illegal items on board in a situation like this, besides, even if he does have anything, it's likely stored in a place where scanners can't just scan it."

"Fair enough, well, here we are!" Dani was excited to start training, they both reached the storage room.

"Real quick, lets push these crates out of the way." Dani ordered, helping Mark get rid of two crates in the middle of the storage bay.

"Alright, lets get on each side of the bay, and when I say go, we fight." Dani instructed. Both went to a side of the makeshift arena.

"Okay, we fight in three, two, one, GO!" Dani announced, starting the fight.

They approached each-other, when they reached a little more than a foot from each-other they began circling on the arena, looking for a weakness in their opponent. Dani noticed Mark was well within range to hit her, his arms being slightly longer than her own, yet she was able to get close without problem, and she saw a chance as well.

"Ha!" She cried, feigning a hook to the right, bringing his hands up to his head, and with that she kicked him on his left side.

Mark reacted about as well as anyone who just took a kick to the side would and doubled over, Dani, seeing a chance to finish him off quickly punched downwards at his now kneeling body, except when she was about to connect, he got up and grabbed her arm, he had faked being injured! He used his newfound leverage to swing her her and release so she would backpedal into a wall.

"That son of a…" Dani murmured, kneeling on the ground after hitting the wall, she saw an opportunity to deal a strong blow, "I wonder…"

Placing her foot on the wall, she used it to provide a springboard for her next attack, she kicked off and flew at him nearly vertically, winding a left jab at him, she prepared to strike and landed it directly on his chest, sending her crashing into a nearby crate, and Mark into a wall.

Mark got up first, saying "Damn, could you possibly hit any harder, I think we nearly put a hole in the wall with that last one."

"Tell me about it, I felt like I was going at Mach 2 towards you… and hit the ground at Mach 3." Dani said, standing up and trying to steady herself with the crate she crashed against, before it slid out of the way and into a wall, creating a rattling sound.

"What was that?" Mark wondered aloud, "I thought you said the storage manifest reported nothing was inside the storage bay."

"That's what I thought, what could he be storing that wasn't on the manifest?" Dani questioned.

"Maybe something illegal that he doesn't want us to know about. Let's open it and see." Mark said, putting his hands on the lid of the crate.

"Wait, we should wait and ask Dexter."

"I have a feeling if he hasn't mentioned it, doesn't have it on the storage manifest, and has hidden it inside a crate, that he's not going to give us a straight answer about it, this might be our only chance, what if it's something important, or useful to us like another Holocron?" Mark was quite hopeful about his finding.

Dani was not so hopeful about it. "Yeah, another Holocron none of us can open, we'd need to know how to use the force to open it, and none of us do, it's no use in breaking Dexter's trust if we don't need to, let's leave it alone and just ask him, he hasn't lied to us yet. Our families trusted him for a reason."

"Alright, fine. I hope that you're right about this though." Mark let go and motioned for Dani to leave the storage bay, "Let's see if he's finished talking with the Devaronians yet.

They entered the holo-projector room where they saw Dexter and James playing holo-chess.

"Ah, there you kids are, where have you been?" Dexter questioned, making his next move, and sending James into a look of despair. "I believe that is check by the way, your move."

"We were training in combat inside the storage bay." Mark replied.

"Ah, and did you find anything while you were in there?" Dexter continued questioning Mark.

"Actually, yes, there was a rattling sound inside one of your boxes, meaning something was inside, and yet your storage manifest reports that there is nothing being stored in there, is there something you don't want anybody to know about inside of it?" Dani interjected, interrupting Mark before he could explain.

"Obviously. It's very astute you figured it out so quickly that I'm trying to keep something hidden inside that particular crate, considering I went through every avenue to hide it short of storing it on my person. What is in that crate isn't particularly important at the moment, though, just a couple of old relics, lacking in any actual use. I won't stop you from opening the crate, I can't just lock up my cargo bay forever, but you may be disappointed in what you find." Dexter explained, "By the way, before you came in I spoke with my Devaronian friends, and they're willing to help out and provide us with a safe haven for some short time, but at the cost that we'd have to support them in a resistance effort against the Empire. On the plus side, we'd have friends and possible safe haven, on the down side we'd still have to engage in combat and put ourselves at risk in one way or another."

"Me and Dexter were discussing it over this blasted game of chess, and I say that it's a good idea to seek refuge with the Devaronian rebels, but it's up to you guys, we might end up on dangerous missions, but it's better than our current situation." James stated.

"I don't see a problem with it, are you sure they're trustworthy though?" Mark said.

"At this point, they're all we have, it's them or we just travel around to random planets hoping to avoid the Imperial navy." Dexter said.

"I say we do it, it's our only chance." Dani stated.

"Alright, then it's final, I'll let them know, James, do you know how to set a course in the cockpit?" Dexter asked.

"Fairly certain I remember from that one time you let me simulate a jump, I'll get right on it." James said, walking out of the room and to the cockpit.

"Alright, good. Let's see if we can get them on comms to let them know we're coming down soon." Dexter declared, typing in data to his holoprojector.

 _Well, that's that. For a week off I expected I'd write more, but I wanted to get this off in a timely manner. I saw The Last Jedi not 2 hours ago and that really had me excited, literally everything was over the top, from the lightsaber duels to the setpieces, and I loved every second, so I'll be sure to have the next chapter written hopefully by Saturday, a decent goal to attempt to reach. Until next time I'm theepicME, thank you for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4: Discoveries

Dexter, James, Mark, and Dani all four were on the way to Devaron. Dexter had contacted his Devaronian friends and James set the course through hyperspace. They all sat in the holo-projector room, Dani and James playing Pazaak while Dexter watched intently, seemingly searching for a particular strategy to it, while Mark sat in a chair, twiddling his thumbs.

"So, what do we do until we arrive?" Mark asked, clearly bored.

"If you wish to, I'd be glad if you played a hand of Pazaak with me." Dexter replied, holding a deck in his hands, "I think I may very well have created the perfect deck!"

"I told you once, and I'll tell you again, I don't play with Republic Senate rules, you better actually be betting something or else there's no point." Mark insisted, "What about whatever is inside that crate we were talking about earlier?"

"You know what… I think I'll accept that bet, let's play. One round only, though." Dexter laughed, getting ready to play.

James and Dani finished up their hand and watched Mark and Dexter play, they heard what the stakes were and wished to see what would happen.

Dexter and Mark remained silent, the game of Pazaak was quite simple, the goal was to get as close to 20 as possible with one's cards. Cards were automatically dealt with specific numbers, and one could augment the number to get to 20 by placing down their own cards from the side-deck, positive cards would add to the player's sum, while negative cards would lower a players sum, there were also cards that one could choose whether they added or subtracted to the sum.

Dexter went first, the first card dealt to him was a 6, he decided to end his turn without placing a card down. Mark was dealt a 4, which he knew would be of great benefit considering what he had inside his side-deck, he ended his turn without doing anything either.

"Who do you think is gonna win?" Dani asked James, while James wasn't particularly great at Pazaak himself, he did have a great poker face, and an uncanny ability to read the faces of others, although that may have been because of his attunement with the force, Dani realized.

"Based on faces alone, Mark and Dexter both are acting like they have winning hands, but it's much too early in the round to tell, to be honest." James murmured, ensnared by his interest of the game at hand.

Deter received another 6 next, creating a sum of 12, he saw his chance, adding his own 6 to make 18, then ending his turn. Mark received a 7, making his own sum an 11, he ended his turn without adding anything.

"What… he must not have very many negatives in his side-deck then…" James muttered, absolutely enthralled.

"Why do you say that?" Dani questioned, she was more of a casual at the game than any of the others.

"See how Dexter placed a card to make his sum incredibly close to 20, but didn't seal the deal? He obviously has a good few negatives if that's the case, meanwhile look at Mark, he's letting the main-deck get him close, but he must not have very many negatives if he's not wanting to get close on his own."

"Oh, I see." Dani agreed.

Dexter's next turn had the main deck give him a 3, putting him at 21, quite close to 20, he was content with his luck and stood. Mark had free reign to do whatever he needed, he started with the main deck giving him a 5, he was now at 16.

"Alright Dexter, it's over." Mark grinned, laying down a 4 to make his sum 20, winning him the game.

"Ah damn, you win. I guess my deck isn't as perfect as I wanted." Dexter said, exasperated.

"The perfect deck doesn't exist, it's all based on luck, and my deck takes advantage of that luck." Mark laughed, "Better luck next time, now if you don't mind, I'm going to check out whatever is in that crate."

"You do that, but I'd suggest you bring James and Dani with you to check it out. It might be useful that they see the contents of that crate as well." Dexter stated, "I'll be in the cockpit if you need me."

"Alrighty then, come on James." Mark yelled for James to come along, "and you too Dani, let's check out this crate!"

They walked into the Cargo Bay, and over to the cargo crate.

"It's this one James, the one that rattled, let's see what's inside." Dani said, placing her hands on the lid.

"Alright, open it up, let's see what you guys were so interested in." James instructed.

Dani opened the lid and placed it to the floor, all three walked to it and peered inside, and what they found was indeed as interesting as they had expected. Inside were two lightsabers and some type of pouch, the trio stared at their find.

"Is that… what I think it is?" Dani mumbled, in shock, staring at one of the sabers. Their figures were unmistakable and synonymous with the Jedi Order from just years earlier.

"Unless you think it's a miniature Rancor, then yes, it is what you think it is." James replied, immediately reaching for one of the lightsabers, picking it up, he examined it, "It's definitely lighter than you might expect a weapon to be, I wonder if it works." James pointed the laser end of the saber away from his friends and attempted to activate it, to no avail.

"It doesn't work? Why would Dexter be carrying something so useless on his ship?" Mark exclaimed, reaching in and picking up the pouch, opening it up he poured the contents into his hand.

"Those are holo-chips, I wonder what's on them!" Dani exclaimed

"If they've been put in the same crate as some lightsabers, then I'm willing to bet that they're related to them in some way." James ventured a guess, "Maybe we should ask Dexter, he put them on the ship."

"I'll go do that and ask him, you two figure out what's with the lightsabers, I like guns a lot better." Mark said, walking out to question Dexter on what the contents of the crate were for.

James and Dani began to investigate the lightsabers, unable to figure out how to turn them on. The first was chrome colored, with very little other distinguishing features, despite the lack of adornment, it still carried an air of mystery surrounding it, inviting them to investigate further, yet no matter what they pressed, neither James or Dani could ascertain any method to turning the weapons on.

"What's with these things? I thought they were supposed to turn on just like that?" Dani asked, confused.

"That's what we learned in school, we also learned the Jedi were evil, so let's just take everything with a grain of salt until we can get Dexter or someone else of greater wisdom can tell us the truth." James replied, "You take that one, I'll take this one here, lets go see Dexter about it, hopefully Mark got information on the holo-chips."

James picked up the other lightsaber, it was much less plain as compared to the other it was found with. Circling where one would most likely grip the saber were slight bumps, most likely to improve one's grip while wielding it. Located towards the bottom was a grip, likely meant to attach it to belts. Towards the top a small piece of metal jutted out from where the laser would emit, a shroud of sorts for the weapon's emitter.

They began to walk to the cockpit, where they would most likely find Dexter, Dani and James both stared at the lightsabers in their hands, these elegant handles alone only gave a clue to the power that would be contained within the weapon. They entered the cockpit to find Dexter in the pilots seat, staring out into the empty blackness of space, no Mark in sight. James and Dani stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Hey Dexter, we have something to ask you about." Dani broke the silence.

"I'm assuming it's about the lightsabers you found inside the crate?" Dexter replied.

"That would be correct, what's with them? They don't work at all, we've tried any method possible of turning them on, but they simply _will not_ work." James told him, somewhat exasperated.

"The reason they don't work is quite simple, they're missing a critical piece. I might not have known much about your parents plans, but before they did they gave me their weapons. They knew that the operation would likely have a low chance to succeed, so Dani's father and James's mother both gave their lightsabers up, as the other was much more capable in combat, they told me to find you and give them to you after the deed was done. I'm not sure they expected to be caught by the Imperial army, but they did remove the crystal to the lightsabers, as to make them useless if they were to get lost by me, or if I got caught by Imperials at any point before you received them." Dexter explained to them everything relating to the sabers.

"Wait, if that's the case, why didn't you give them to us right after we got on?" James asked, "Our parents ordered you to give them to us immediately after they did the bombing."

"You really are observant, aren't you, I suppose I'll have to let on to what else I know." Dexter sighed, slightly annoyed "They wanted me to show you the ways of the force and to help you on your way in learning the force. You know, non-force-sensitive me, the perfect educator on something I have no idea how to use. I would have done everything they asked, had they not been caught and my freighter here not being marked for death by any Imperial vessel we come across. I do believe that near the place where we'll be landing is an old abandoned Jedi Temple, though, so you may wish to see what that place has to offer."

"So you're telling us that we are basically confirmed force sensitive then, if our parents wanted you to train us?" James inquired, pressing further into Dexter's claims.

"Yes, fine. You both are force sensitive, your parents knew from the start. I have no idea how you'd get started using it, though." Dexter said, getting angry at all the examining of his claims.

"That wasn't so hard to tell us, now was it? Why would you have kept that information from us from the start?" James was starting to dig slightly deeper into the mind of this family friend.

"I'm being honest, I'm a bit of a control freak, and I spent multiple years working for a private navy, learning chain of command and the like. All I know is delegation of command, and information security, preventing information leaks by only giving information to people that is pertinent to their mission." Dexter was now rather tired, instead of angry.

"Alright, fair enough, thanks for telling us, that's all I needed." James stated.

"By the way, where's Mark?" Dani asked, she wanted to change the subject as much as possible, the grilling for information she just witnessed had worn her out just by watching. She didn't like how much James pressed, though, he may have went slightly too far.

"He's in the holo-projector room most likely, didn't you come across him on the way to the cockpit?" Dexter asked.

"Nope, he wasn't in the holo-projector room, he probably went back to his room or something." Dani told him, "Let's go James, I'm willing to bed he's already started looking at whatever is on those holo-chips."

Dani and James strolled out of the cockpit, clearly satisfied with all they learned. They walked into the holo-projector room to find Mark inserting one of the holo-chips into the projector, he looked up at them entering the room.

"Hey guys, did he tell you anything about the lightsabers and how to work them?" Mark asked, he was interested in seeing them in action, even if he wouldn't care to have one in his hands.

"Yeah, and we also learned a lot more about why we need to watch out about who we trust." James replied, still slightly annoyed at how much Dexter hid from them.

"What do you mean?" Mark was confused.

"Well, we went to Dexter and asked him about the lightsabers…" James explained the entire conversation that him and Dani had with Dexter over the weapons, "…That's why I'm going to start questioning him on everything, I'm concerned one of his secrets are going to be a detriment to our lives."

"Oh wow, I should have expected that from a smuggler like him. I wouldn't put it past him that he kept the crystals for himself too." Mark spat, incredibly angry that Dexter would even think to try to hide information from them.

"Alright, calm down, I don't think he'd go that far." Dani defended Dexter, "What use would he have for 2 lightsaber crystals without their lightsabers, they're useless without the lightsaber anyways."

"He could very easily sell them for a good amount of credits. I'm sure there are people willing to pay lots of credits for lightsaber crystals, especially if they have lightsabers of their own." James reasoned.

"While you're right, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, I'd imagine something would have been inconsistent about that part of his story if that's the case." Dani continued to try to reason with them.

"Okay, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, but if I see more reason to distrust him then… I don't know what I'll do, but I'll do something." James said with strengthening resolve.

"Fair enough, but for now let's see about these holo-chips." Dani said, "Mark, turn on the projector."

Mark complied and turned on the holo-projector. He turned and selected one of the holo-chips, putting it inside the projector, a file list instantly came up. There were many photographs and one video file.

"What are these photographs about?" Mark asked aloud, and selected one. The photograph was of the Imperial barracks, obviously it was used as a way to decide when, where, and how to detonate a bomb in that area. It was the same for multiple other photographs, areas along the Imperial garrison which were most likely targeted in the assault. To Dani's relief there were no photographs taken of the training yards, meaning that her friends that were training to join the Imperial military were likely still alive, although they may not be as friendly to her now.

The final photo file was a schematic of some sort, obviously of the bombs used in the bombing. They used easy to access materials and clearly carried a lot of power, if the garrison bombing was anything to go by.

"Let's check out that video file, who knows what's on it!" Dani exclaimed, she was surprisingly excited to see what the video might be, hoping it was their parents.

Mark complied and accessed the video file, immediately a projection of all of their parents appeared, the soft blue glow not giving away the familiarity of their faces. They appeared solemn, as if they had recorded this just after a tragedy.

James' dad spoke first "Hey kids, I'm sure if you're receiving this then you're safe, which is great. Unfortunately, this also means that you're on the run with Dexter. I just wanted to start by saying that we all apologize for the act we're about to do, or for you, have already committed. The reason we did this is mostly for revenge, and to possibly spark an uprising on the planet, something we can only hope to come true. We hope Dexter gave you all the rundown on our past by now, not to mention Dani and James' force sensitivity, as has given you the lightsabers. If all of this is true, then he is as trustworthy as we hope. We asked him to train you two, James and Dani, although based on our discussions in the past he most likely will not come through with that request. As such Dani, your mother has seen it fit to include instructions on how to use to force effectively, and James, I've done the same for you. Your training can be commenced through the holo-communicators we gave all of you, they have slots for holo-chips."

Mark's father spoke up, "I have faith that you'll know what I'll give you on your holo-chip Mark, lessons on marksmanship and Close-Quarters-Combat, be ready to use them when the time comes."

Dani's mother started speaking in a soft tone, "We have no idea what will happen after we do this, you're most likely on Dexter's ship, I'd imagine, and honestly, we don't know what will be best for you to do. We planned to have everything lined up for you all, a safehouse, trainings on operating underground, and hopefully you'll be able to make a life despite the Empire hunting you down. Sadly the Empire caught wind of our plans, and before we could get all that done we realized it was now or never. We're about to go out and fight, your journey is yours, although in the other holo-chips there are plenty of essential information folders to guide you guys onto the path to safety. Good luck, and may the force be with you."

The holoprojection ended, Dani stood on the spot, staring solemnly, James shook his head, and Mark hung his head down.

"You're joking. They pulled us into a conflict in which we're risking our lives to escape from an Empire _infinitely_ more powerful than all of us, for _revenge_? They cannot be serious." James was clearly angry.

Dani and Mark both stared at him, they saw the anger in his eyes and yet were becoming angry themselves.

"This was a conflict that they risked their lives just as much for, they've prepared us as best they could with the time they had. They invested everything they had into this, give them a break." Dani spat, irate.

"Besides, this was their last act, to become a martyr versus an Empire that wiped out their entire way of life, it was their choice to perform this act. While yes, I don't like this any more than you are, I'm positive we'll be able to figure out what to do. Their choice is something we have to live with now, let's just try to make do with what we have." Mark was calm, but still slightly angry at James blatantly ignoring the feelings of their parents.

"Martyring themselves with a complete disregard to whatever happens to the children that they leave behind, I'm glad their choice was to destroy our lives, I can't believe you guys are okay with this!" James shouted and stormed off.

"Is he serious?" Dani asked.

"Yes, but I'm more concerned about something else." Mark replied.

"Which would be?"

"They mentioned we all had holo-communicators, I thought I was the only one." Mark pulled out his holo-communicator.

"Yeah, I thought I had the only one between us too" Dani said, pulling out her own.

"You'd think that would be something we'd talk about, but either way, I think it's best we connect ours, not to mention James' when he calms down." Mark suggested.

"Good idea!" Dani replied, they connected theirs when Dexter walked in.

"Alright kids, let's get ready to land at Devaron, we're landing in an hour nearby to my contact's house, I've negotiated a few terms to help them out to get us save haven for some time." Dexter announced, "Be prepared, they're preparing an open resistance on the planet's surface, and we may need to book it if the Empire crashes down hard on them."

With that, Dexter left, Dani went to retrieve her gloves and some credits and Mark went to let James know about what was happening.

 _Happy New Years guys! I expected this to come out sooner but I got roped into some other plans that resulted in me not working on this for an entire weekend. Luckily I had some inspiration over the weekend to ending this chapter and here we are. I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope to have the next chapter done by either Thursday or Friday, when school starts up again. I'll most likely have more sporadic release dates on my chapters, either once a week to twice a month, I can't give an official release schedule for fear of rushing my work and pushing out a poor chapter to meet a deadline. Please be patient with me as I work to write a story that is hopefully as enjoyable to you all as I enjoy writing it, as usual, thank you all for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed!_


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